Staples soccer celebrates 50 years of success

Published 8:00 pm, Thursday, September 25, 2008

Staples soccer turned 50 years old this week.

One of the most storied high school boys soccer programs in the state played its very first game on Sept. 23, 1958, exactly 50 years ago Tuesday, and the Wreckers will commemorate their golden anniversary and celebrate a half-century of success on Saturday, before, during and well after their game against Stamford at 10 a.m.

"Everyone is excited and looking forward to it," current head coach Dan Woog, a former player himself, said.. "I get emails everyday. It should be a great time."

Actually, the celebration will begin tonight with a social event at Bobby O's Restaurant on Main Street in Westport. Then on Saturday, some 200 former Staples soccer players representing parts of six decades will be on hand for the festivities, beginning with a tour of the new and improved school.

That will be followed by a "Breakfast on The Hill" above Albie Loeffler Field where so many Westporters have viewed Staples soccer games over the last 50 years.

Following the game against Staples, there will be a lunch for the alumni in the school courtyard, followed by an alumni game ("which 60 people have signed up for," Woog noted), followed by an alumni kids game for the children of the former players.

The celebration will conclude Saturday night with a wine-tasting social at the home of former player Dan Donovan, a member of the 1981 state championship team.

That's just one of the 11 state title teams that have called Staples High School home and helped build the legacy that set a standard of excellence throughout the FCIAC and state.

And with a tradition as rich and deep as the Wreckers have in soccer, Woog thought it only right - and necessary - to celebrate this year's milestone season.

"It was about a year and a half ago when I realized this would be our 50th season," he said. "The year 1958 just stuck in my head and I said 'Wow, 50 years.' And really in that year and a half we started putting this together.

"But I've had a ton of help with this. I've had help from alumni parents like Amy Lamb, who had three sons play at Staples, and Melanie Nangle, who had two sons who played. Then there's been a parent, Karen Scott, whose son is a sophomore varsity player on this year's team and that's her first kid to play here.

"She, like many other parents, got involved with Staples soccer and started reading our Web site (www.Staplessoccer.com) and they learned about our intense rivalry with McMahon for 20 years and all the state championships we've won and lost year to year. They began to realize that it's not just 50 years, but 50 cool years. So we're tying the present team in with the legacy.

"There have been a ton of other people who have helped, too. We're not only going to have the alumni coming back, but the alumni parents have worked on this."

So how did the Wreckers celebrate the actual 50th birthday of their soccer program on Tuesday? By practicing. They played Danbury the day before and Fairfield Ludlowe the day after, both wins.

But they picked Saturday to have the actual celebration.

"We selected that date because it coincides with homecoming," Woog pointed out. "September 23 was the date of our first game and the closest game to that we could schedule this kind of event was when we played Stamford."

But when the 2008 FCIAC schedule came out, that game was scheduled to be played today at Stamford.

"So I called (Stamford head coach) Mario Caminiti, explained to him what we wanted to do, and asked him if it was possible that they come down here on Saturday," Woog said. "And Mario instantly agreed to do it. Next year we'll go there instead of playing here.

"So I tip my hat to Mario for allowing us to do that."

Fittingly, the alumni players in attendance will be watching a 2008 team that has so far carried on the tradition of past Staples teams. Despite a relatively young roster, the Wreckers are a perfect 6-0 and have yet to be scored upon.

Of course, it's still too early to engrave their name on any championship plaque, but the foundation of another Staples powerhouse could well be in the works. It might not be long before they add their own piece of hardware to a crowded trophy case that already includes a record 24 FCIAC championships and 11 state crowns, still the most in the history of the large school division.

Many of the players on those teams will be back on Saturday, including many who are still involved in soccer. Like Steve Baumann, now the president and chief operating officer of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum in Oneonta, N.Y.

"From what I see from all the email threads that have been going around there's a huge excitement from all the former players who are coming," said Baumann, an All-FCIAC forward who was named MVP of the 1969 state tournament that Staples won. "All the way back to the people who played in the '60s and '70s, to players in the '90s. We've all had similar experiences playing soccer at Staples even though we're separated by many years.

"It's a pretty unique thing," he added. "I don't know if you find that in other communities or in other sports at Staples or at other schools."

Baumann won't be the only one coming back still very much involved in soccer.

"Kyle Martino, who retired this year after seven years in the MLS and is now a color commentator for ESPN, will be there," Woog said of the former Gatorade National High School Player of the Year. "Mike Noonan, who's the head coach at Brown, can't be there because he has a game, but Chip Young, one of our first college All-Americans, will be."

There will even be a father and son alumni returning.

"Alex Deegan, who played on the '91 team and then played at Davidson and led them to the National Final Four, will be there," Woog said, "And his father, Bill Deegan, who played on the '62 team, will be there from San Antonio."

One person who won't be there, however, is Loeffler, the Wreckers' legendary coach who started the program and the winning tradition known as Staples Soccer.

"Albie is 92 and living outside of Raleigh, N.C.," Woog, who stays in contact with his former coach, said. "He's in good health and as sharp as ever. I call him and we talk about soccer, we talk about politics. His mother lived till she was 101 so he has some great genes.

"He's not in ill health or anything like that. I just think he truly doesn't want to be the center of attention. But we spoke the other day and he gave me some thoughts that I wrote up and will distribute about the wonderful people he met through soccer."

While Loeffler was the first soccer coach at Staples, the amazing thing is there have only been three permanent head coaches in the 50-year history of the program. Loeffler coached for 19 years and compiled a record of 227-33-25 while winning seven state titles.

One of those state crowns came in 1970 when Loeffler suffered a heart attack prior to the season and he and assistant Jeff Lea were co-head coaches, leading the Wreckers to a 16-1-1 mark and a state championship.

In 1969, when Loeffler was on sabbatical, Frank Henrick, another assistant, took over the head coaching duties on an interim basis and led Staples to a 17-1-0 mark and the state title in his one season.

When Loeffler retired after the 1977 season, Lea took over as head coach, a position he held for the next 25 years. Counting the 1970 season he was co-coach, Lea recorded a 357-77-42 record and won five state titles, including the program's last one in 1993.

Woog was an assistant for 20 years, starting in 1983 when Staples added ninth grade and he coached the freshmen team. He would also coach the JV and then be a varsity assistant under Lea before assuming the head coaching duties in 2003. Now in his sixth season, he is currently 70-21-11, leading the Wreckers to state runner-up finishes in 1996 and again two years ago when they lost in double overtime.

Add it all up and the Staples soccer program is a remarkable 654-131-77. What's more, the Wreckers have had only one losing season in their history, 1997, when they finished 6-7-2, losing their final game 1-0 in the last 10 minutes. They've made the state tournament every other year.

It's a bit ironic that a program that has won as much as Staples over the years actually lost their first game 50 years ago, falling to Andrew Warde 3-2 in Fairfield..

"What I found out through a guy named George Scott was their original goalie was someone Albie recruited off his basketball team. He just wanted to keep him in shape for basketball season," Woog explained. "But after that first game, the guy didn't want to play goalie anymore. He told Albie, please, I'll run laps during the game but I don't want to play goalie.

"So he put George Scott in goal and they won their next game 4-0 over Ludlowe (50 years ago Thursday). George Scott ended up giving up only two goals the rest of the season and he's quick to point out that one was an own goal."

Staples finished 6-2 that first season and in 1959 won what was then known as the Fairfield County Conference.

And just for the record, after that loss to Warde, until 1986 when Warde and Ludlowe merged to form Fairfield High School, Staples beat Andrew Warde 65 straight times they played.

Woog was a member of Staples' 1970 state championship team, although he called himself "a bench warmer."

"But what I got from that was a love for the game and a love for the values and the people in the program."

Woog has passed many of those values on in his 26 seasons as a coach in the program. In fact, very little has changed in the last 50 years.

"I've never kept stats. Jeff never kept stats, Albie never kept stats," Woog said. "I never got up at a banquet and said so and so is our leading scorer. That's not what it's all about. Soccer is not a game of stats. We have no way of knowing who our all-time leading scorer is.

"What we do know is nobody ever scored more than four goals in a game because he never had to."

Another thing that hasn't changed over the years is the hill where fans watch home games.

"A few years ago when plans for the new school were drawn up, part of it was going to be built on where the soccer field was," Woog said. "A lot of people stood up and said 'You can't do that. It's not right.' They were going to put a soccer field in front of the school, which would've looked tacky."

Fortunately, the plans were changed and the soccer field stayed where it was. So did the hill.

"A couple of years ago we raised $90,000 to build the 'Terrace on the Hill,' " Woog said. "Now we have beautiful granite seats built right into the hill and people sit there. The grass is still there. There's grass on the field and grass on the hill the way it should be."

But perhaps the proudest tradition in Staples soccer history is the block letter "S" on the front of the uniform. It's almost like putting on the Yankee pinstripes or the Montreal Canadiens sweater. It's all about tradition.

"We haven't change our block 'S' in 50 years," Woog said. "Our uniform doesn't say 'Staples." It's just the letter 'S.' Kids have said to me when they get there uniform for the first time they take it home and spread it out over their bed and just look at it. It really means something to them."

Baumann agreed.

"Staples soccer was only 10 years-old when my age group played and we didn't realize the legacy that was being built years after we left," he said. "But there is a sort of tangible timeline there between all the teams."

Including this year's team.

"We don't want to overburden these players by it," Woog said. "They don't have to know who did what when. We tell them don't try to be other people. Just be your team and write your own chapter. They are proud to be writing their chapter in history.

"But you know what's really cool. The players on this year's team are excited about Saturday to see that hill filled. They're as excited as the alumni."

It should be quite a celebration.

"And it will go as planned despite the rain," Woog promised. "It's about people. We don't care about the weather. Soccer players understand."